Continuous electric outlet for buildings



May 15, 1934. FRlEND CONTINUOUS ELECTRIC OUTLET FOR BUILDINGS 2 Sheets-Sheet l FiledJune 7, 1932 INVENTOR.

BY AT ORNE May 15, 1934. H. FRIEND CONTINUOUS ELECTRIC OUTLET FOR BUILDINGS Filed June 7, 1952 2 Sheets-Shoot. 2

Emmi mm INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY Patented May s, 1934 1,958,993

ssues CONTINUOUS ELECTRIC OUTLET FOR BUILDINGS Herman Friend, New York, N. Y., assignor of one- I fourth to Maurice B. Jacobsohn and. onegqwcgitieth to Joleph H. San, both of New York,

Application June 7, 1932, Serial No. slams a chums. (Cl. 247-3) This invention relates to outlets for electric forms of devices used for the purposes mentioned currents in buildings and has for its main object in connection with Fig. 7. to provide such outlets which will not be restrict- Referring now to the drawings more closely by ed to certain isolated rare and distant points in characters of reference, the numeral 20 indicates the interior of the building or of a room thereof a molding applied to the wall 21 of a building, (it but which will provide means for electric curthe one showninFig. l beingthe bottom molding rent outlets at frequent places or even the full which runs around thefoot of the wall at the length of any desired wall in the building. floor 22. In the preferred embodiment of my in- Other objects of this invention will be apparent vention, a portion is removed from themolding as the specification of the same proceeds and 20, all along its length leaving a longitudinal reamong others may be mentioned: to provide a cessor slot 23 of rectangular cross section. Turndevice as characterized hereinbefore which will ing now to Fig. 3, a central longitudinal piece or be simple in construction, inexpensive to manubar 24 is employed within said recess or slot 23 facture and to install, efficient and safe in use being secured therein by any appropriate means 3 and easily and attractively applicable. on the as by the screws 25 going through its material walls of the building. and engaging the material of the molding 20.

- with the above and other oblects in View; my Two spaces 26 and 27 are left at the two sides of inVeIltlOll mainly consists i p v ding twO-resilithe central longitudinal rod 24 and two resilient ent electro conductive strips of material or bars sh et metal strips 28 and 29 are secured closely along w h n unk i th W ll 01 he b ilding adhering to the two sides of the rod 24 in said molding thereof chosen id p p spaces 26 and 27. Said strips 28 and 29 prefer- Sald r Strip COIlStitllting t tWO D 185 0! an ably are made of a highly electro conductive copelectric circuit, and also providing W0 na w per alloy, like brass, having resilient'qualities and slits in the material of the wall opposite and along they are bent in the manner indicated in th 13 said resilient strips s that t pr n s of a drawings so that their lower ends 30 and 31 are r ry stick pl s m y e pu hed thr ugh id, turned inwardly and secured in their places by slits at a y desired p nt thereof and r u ht in the central longitudinal rod 24 while their recontact with the two respective bars. Preferably vergely bent outer branches 32 and 33 may Dress Said strips 0! material and Said slits are pp against the outer walls of the recess or slot 23,

E3 n an app opr t mo d Ornament on the the main branches 28 and 29 and the outer l S that h y may be easily pp and at branches 32 and 33 of said electro conductive the Same time y be made 1958 observable and strips being connected by rounded portions 34 more attractiife in apparanceand 35 thereof. This construction obviously prothe drawings 1011111118 8 p Of this p flvides efficient and extremely simple means forse- 3a cation and a p yi th sam curing said resilient strips r material in the Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of the spaces 26 and 27-. for increasing their resiliency comer of a room in the building showing the apand for making it safe and secure that the prongs plication of my invention thereto; 01 a stick plug inserted in my device will surely I g. 2 s a fragmentary plan of a part of the be guided to their places and will be assured of wall equipped with. my device showing a stick reliable electrical contacts as plug attached thereto, while; The material of the molding 20 and of the Figs 3, 4 and 5 are sectional elevations of a central rod or piece 24 will, of course, be made of molding in which my device is embedded, any suitable insulating material, preferably of bakelite or the like, so that when'the resilient iiig gig gifl gg ig f respectwe 3 strips 28 and 29 are charged with the electricity,

Fig. 6 is a rear view of a part of a molding showzgg fi i fggg g ggggg g g ing the method by which the electric current is strips 1 led into the two respective resilient bars. In f 2 and 5 an ordinary standard stick plug 5) 7 is a Perspective View 0f a'resilient bar 36 is illustrated in the position of contact with showing the method by which the electric my continuous electrical outlet. ,The two prongs rent may be connected thereto and also one meth- 7 and 33 f the m 3 n be inserted into the 0d for connecting the resilient bars at the corners l t or spaces 26 r 27 a d ill be guided by th g of a room, while rounded surfaces 34 and 35 so that finally they 05 Figs. 8 and 9 are perspective views of two will lay against the two sides of the central piece 11 24 and will be securely engaged by the spring strips 28 and 29 through the resilient action thereof. The strips 28 and 29 are constantly charged with the electricity, the two poles of an appropriate current being led into the respective strips 28 and 29 at any appropriate points thereof. One method of introducing the electrical current into-my continuous spring contacts or outlets is illustrated in Figs. 7, 8, 4, and 5. Two triangular pieces 39 of an electro conductive metal are provided for each resilient strip at the point where the introduction of the current is desired, said pieces engaging the two sides of the strips in any suitable manner. The two pieces are securely screwed together by a screw 40, and the respective wire 41 coming from the source of the electric current may be secured to said screw 40. A circular hole 42 may be cut into the molding at the place where the electricity is desired to be introduced into my conductive bars and the wires 41 leading to the source of the electric current may be arranged in the wall back of the mold- When the resilient strips are carried around the corner of a wall of a room, similar clamps 39 may be employed at the corners for the continuity of the conductor strips, an appropriate space or recess being provided in the wall back of the molding, or in the molding itself, or an angle piece'43 may be provided for such corners being secured to the two adjoining metal strips as by the screws 44 To better secure the two continuous electrical conductors 28 and 29 against accidents or inadvertence, the openings of the spaces 26 and 27 may be restricted to the smallest widths possible for which purpose the outer edges of the spaces 26 and 27 may be provided with inwardly projecting beads 45 (Fig. 3). The conductor strips or bars as well as their connections of the source of current may be built and protected in the usual manner and according to the rules and pre- 1 scriptions of the various localities for installing electrical conductors in the building. Slots 26 and 27 may be formed in such a manner as to be part of the ornaments or. designs of the molding 20 and instead of being continuous slots along the full length of the molding they may be used only intermittently the spaces between such open portions of said slots being covered as at 46 (Fig. 1), or said slots and said conductor strips being provided at certain intervals and for certain desired lengths only in the walls or in their moldings, the open portions for such conductor strips being connected to one another in continuous lines within the wall or molding in an electro conductive manner. The open portion of said slots and the covered parts of the wall or molding therebetween may be employed as parts of the design of the wall or molding to make my device less conspicuous and more attractive in appearance. The same remarks hold good for cases where I employ continuous slots all along the length of a wall or for the greater part thereof.

It is obvious from the herein specification and from the inspection of the drawings that I provide extremely simple and novel means whereby electric current may be easily, conveniently and by standard devices tapped at any part of the room of a building.

It will be understood that changes and variations may be made in the parts and combinations of my device and I hereby reserve all my rights to any and all such changes as are within the spirit of the invention and the scope ofthe appended claims.

What I claim as new, is:

1. In a continuous electric-outlet for walls, having an elongated space surrounded by electro insulating material, provided in said wall, and a central axial bar of insulating material secured in said space, leaving two side spaces at the two sides thereof; a resilient electro conductive strip of material in each of said side spaces each strip being bent doubled over itself, to form a channel, the lower end of the inner branch, adjacent to said axial bar, being bent inwardly and being secured underneath said axial bar, said bar being a separate independent piece, the outer branch of said electro conductive channel leaning against the outer wall of the respective side space and the two branches being connected with a rounded portion, each outer edge of said axial bar and of the side wall of the respective space being brought into close proximity to one another so as to provide a narrow slit in parallelism with and opposite to said rounded portion of said resilient conductor, whereby continuous communication is established between the respective side space and the outside, and means to secure said axial bar to the bottom of said space'and thereby secure said two resilient conductors.

2. In a continuous electrical outlet for walls, as set forth in claim 1, said branches being substantially plane strips of sheet material in parallelism with one another, and with the sides of their spaces, respectively, and said connection between said two branches of each conductor being of a large outward curvature from the inner branch to the outer one, forming a somewhat sharper folded edge with said outer branch.

3. In a continuous electrical outlet for walls, as set forth in claim 1, the inwardly turned end of each of said inner branches being extended at a portion thereof and straightened out substantially into the plane of said inner branch to iorm a plate; a plate extension on the termination of an electric conductor leading to a source of electricity, and means to removably secure said two plates together.

HERMAN FRIEND. 

